Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief was founded in the early months of 1933 by a group of Anglo-Jewish community leaders, in response to the appointment of Adolph Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on a platform of anti-Semitism. Among the founders were Antony de Rothschild, Leonard G. Montefiore and Otto Schiff.

The Fund has been through many name changes in its lifetime. It started out as the Central British Fund for German Jewry, then became part of the new Council for German Jewry in 1936 along with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the American United Palestine Appeal. On the outbreak of World War Two in 1939 the Fund changed its name to the Central Council for Jewish Refugees, and in 1944 changed again to the Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief. After many years as the Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief, the organisation is now known as World Jewish Relief.

The Fund's mission, according to its Memorandum of Association, was "to relieve or assist Jewish refugees in any part of the world in such manner and on such terms and conditions (if any) as may be thought fit." In this work the fund was aided by various organisations, including the Jewish Refugees Committee (JRC) which was founded by Otto Schiff in 1933; the Children's Refugee Movement (established by the JRC and the Inter-Aid Committee); and the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad, which was established in 1943 and financed by the Central Council for Jewish Refugees (as the Central British Fund was then known).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief, predecessor organisations and associated organisations. The archive details the work of the Fund in shelters, hostels, internment camps, schools and foster homes.

LMA also holds case files for the "Kindertransporte" through which children were evacuated from Germany and Austria in 1938 and 1939. PLEASE NOTE: These case files are only accessible in digital form and by application to World Jewish Relief.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:English

System of arrangement:

The archive has been arranged into the following sections: ACC/2793/01: Central British Fund; ACC/2793/02: Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad and other relief organisations; ACC/2793/03: Refugee movements including the Childrens Refugee Movement and the Jewish Refugee Committee; ACC/2793/04: Other organisations including the Agudas Israel World Organisation; ACC/2793/05: Administration; ACC/2793/06: Case files (information not available except with depositor permission); ACC/2793/07: Microfilm.

Conditions governing access:

Case files from the 1930s/1940s are accessible only in digital form and by application to World Jewish Relief; Most case files from the 1970s and later are subject to Data Protection restrictions; where Data Protection restrictions do not apply these later case files are accessible only with permission from World Jewish Relief. The remainder of the collection is available for general access.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited in multiple accessions between 1990 and 2011.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

For further information please consult the LMA Information Leaflet No. 16: "Records of the Anglo-Jewish Community at London Metropolitan Archives"; available to download here: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Visitor_information/free_information_leaflets.htm (URL correct Feb 2010).

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:Description prepared in March 2010. Updated November 2017.

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